Sports Business

Wizards' playoff run shows the value of having complementary players in the backcourt

In 2013-14, Kyrie Irving took 31% of his field-goal attempts from inside 8 feet.

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Dion Waiters took 34.8% of his shots from inside 8 feet in 2013-14.

John Wall and Bradley Beal have played two seasons together.
Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters have gone through two often-tumultuous years on the same team.
Wall was drafted first overall by the Wizards in 2010. Irving was selected first by the Cavs a year later.
Beal was drafted third overall by the Wiz in 2012. Waiters was taken one spot later, at No. 4.
In Wall's fourth season, the Wizards won 44 games and have made a surprising run to the Eastern Conference semifinals. Monday night, Washington defeated top-seeded Indiana on the road to take a 1-0 lead in its best-of-seven quarterfinal series.
In Wall's first three seasons in the league, the Wizards won 72 games. In the months before Wall signed a five-year contract for the maximum of $80 million last summer, the team's fans seemed largely against the move.
In Irving's first three seasons in the league, the Cavs have won 78 games, and there has been much debate (some of it internally, we believe) on whether he should be offered a max contract this summer.
Yes, there are plenty of comparisons that can be made between the Wizards and Cavs.
The Wizards have even made their share of shaky top-six picks in the last few years.
Jan Vesely, the No. 6 overall selection in 2011, was traded to Denver in February after averaging 3.5 points in 141 games for the Wizards. Otto Porter, the No. 3 overall pick in 2013, scored 78 points (139 fewer than Anthony Bennett) in 37 games as a rookie with the Wizards.
An obvious difference between the teams is the Wizards have a very solid starting five that includes three players they acquired via trade.
Washington's starting center, Nene, acquired in a 2012 salary dump by the Nuggets, is averaging 17.2 points and shooting 51.3% in the postseason.
The Wizards' top two forwards — Trevor Ariza and Marcin Gortat — were picked up in lopsided trades in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Ariza is averaging 16.7 points on 52.2% shooting in the 2014 playoffs, and Gortat has averaged a double-double (11 points and 10.5 rebounds).
But it's easy if you're a Cavs fan to keep coming back to Wall and Beal.
Maybe, just maybe, the Cavs could bring in a stud forward in free agency (we all have one in mind) and surround Irving and Waiters with much more adequate post players.
Maybe then Irving and Waiters can figure out how to play together, much like Wall and Beal have in Year 2.
But there is a big difference between the Wizards' backcourt and that of the Cavs.
Wall and Beal are two very different players.
Irving and Waiters are not.
Wall is a shaky shooter (42.6% percent from the field in his career) who took 32.6% of his shots in the regular season from inside 8 feet.
Irving is a better shooter than Wall (44.7% percent from the field and 37.8% from 3-point range in his career) who also takes a considerable amount of his shots from close range. In 2013-14, 31% of Irving's 1,237 field-goal attempts were from inside 8 feet.
The biggest disparities between the teams' backcourts is Beal is an excellent 3-point shooter (48.1% in the 2014 playoffs and 40.2% in the regular season) who doesn't need to drive to the basket to get his points.
Waiters is a shooting guard who isn't a very effective shooter (43.3% from the field in 2013-14), though he did improve on his 3-point shooting in his second season (from 31% as a rookie to 36.8% in '13-14).
But Waiters, like Irving, is a slasher. And it's usually not a good idea to have a backcourt comprised of two ball-demanding guards who prefer to drive to the basket.
Waiters took 34.8% of his 993 shots this season from inside 8 feet. Beal took just 20.2% of his shots from that range.
A whopping 36.1% of Beal's shots in the regular season were from 16 to 24 feet (compared to Waiters' 29.2%), and 29.9% of his attempts were from 3.
A simpler comparison: Beal took 34.1% of his shots from inside 16 feet. Waiters took 45.6% of his attempts from that range.
Beal is a true shooting guard.
Waiters is not.
That's OK, as long as the shooting guard isn't playing with a star-caliber point guard who prefers to drive to the basket and is relied on to score more than 20 points per game.
The Wizards are a great story.
They might even give you hope for the 2014-15 Cavs.
But Irving and Waiters aren't Wall and Beal.
They have All-Star point guards, draft positions and 50-loss seasons in common.
That's about it.

On the airwaves

Through 16 home games, the Indians have baseball's worst attendance — and it's not close.
But plenty of fans are still watching the Tribe on TV.
Prior to Monday night's loss to the Twins, SportsTime Ohio said the Indians' average TV rating through 30 games was 18% better than the 30-game ratings norm for 2013. Half of the 30 contests eclipsed a 6.0 rating on SportsTime Ohio this season.

SportsTime Ohio will air an NFL draft special from the Browns' training facility on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Bruce Drennan will host the show, which will include interviews with Browns coach Mike Pettine and general manager Ray Farmer. Browns play-by-play voice Jim Donovan, ESPN Cleveland reporter Tony Grossi and national college football writer Phil Steele will appear on the program, along with Fox Sports Ohio and SportsTime Ohio reporters Fred Greetham and Zac Jackson.
“Cleveland Browns Daily” co-hosts Vic Carucci and Nathan Zegura will check in from New York, and Ashley Collins will also have reports from the Browns' draft party at the Cleveland Convention Center.
The first round of the draft begins at 8 p.m. Thursday.
You might have heard a time or two that the Browns have the fourth and 26th overall selections.
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